Papelbon, Offense Have Hand in Brutal Loss

Ugh. The Phillies looked great early, then gave up five unanswered to the Mets as they took game one of the series, 5-2.

PAPELBON BLOWS IT

-Until this point, Jonathan Papelbon’s 2012 season had been going swimmingly. Then, he let up a three-run home run to a guy named Jordany Valdespin. Yeah. It was Paps first blown save of the season. Your Phillies season in a nutshell.

-Papelbon had not been used in a game since last week in Atlanta.

HALLADAY RETURNS TO FORM

-His line: seven innings, five hits, two runs (both earned), one walk, seven strikeouts. He certainly returned to form after a disaster in Atlanta. Only problem, the offense couldn’t help him out. Halladay deserved better than a no-decision.

-Early on, Halladay’s velocity was strong. At times, his fastball reached 93 on the radar gun both in the ballpark and on MLB.com’s pitch f/x. Clearly, his demise was premature.

-He threw his curveball for a strike often. In a second inning at-bat against Ike Davis, he made the lefty look silly throwing him back to back curves to fan him. Halladay mixed his pitches well throughout. Davis then looked helpless against Halladay again in the fifth inning as Halladay went curve, cutter, cutter, changeup, curve for a strikeout.

-Even in his tough-luck sixth inning, Halladay looked pretty good. He barely missed on a few pitches during his walk to Andres Torres, then got Kirk Nieuwenhuis to hit it right at Jimmy Rollins. Only problem; Rollins had gone to second to cover a potential stolen base. David Wright slapped a double just over the third base bag, literally inches from being foul, that score two runs. Breaks of the game.

A FEW GOOD AT-BATS

-The Phillies didn’t score a ton of runs, but they worked the count well, especially against Jon Niese. Shane Victorino took a walk. Jimmy Rollins had perhaps his best at-bat of the season in the top of the first that led to the run. John Mayberry Jr. hit his hardest ball of the season that knocked Jimmy in.

-In the top of the fourth, Carlos Ruiz was down 0-2 to Niese, but worked a walk with four straight balls. He did not chase; he waited for his pitch and it never came. Chooch gladly made his way to first.

-Niese tossed 80 pitches in four innings, and only 43 of those were strikes. Patience is a virtue, sometimes.

A FEW NOT-SO-GOOD AT-BATS

-It felt like the Phillies were dominating the game, but when Halladay allowed two runs in the sixth and the Mets tied it, the Phillies needed to capitalize on opportunities. Once again, they did not. With the bases loaded in the seventh, Hunter Pence put together an awful at-bat and eventually grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, made whole by Shane Victorino’s baserunner interference call at second base. That was made possible by a poor showing at the plate by Pence.

-Again in the eighth the Phillies had two on and nobody out only to get nothing out of it. More squandered opportunities.

GLOVELY

-John Mayberry Jr. has had his troubles at the plate. On Monday night, he was a wizard with the glove, making two diving stops in left field. If there is one thing you cannot deny, it’s JMJ’s ability to play the field at a high level.

-Freddy Galvis made a few nice plays as well. After Roy Halladay was hit in the rear end by an Ike Davis liner, and Carlos Ruiz missed the throw to first base, Galvis was there for a sweet sliding back up. Galvis was also on the scene of a blooper over the head of Halladay. He raced in and slid across for the final out. The kid can play defense with the best of them. But right now his bat is not on par. He still needs work, but his defense will likely keep him in the bigs for a long time.

-Placido Polanco completed a double play of his own in the eighth on a spinning-top grounder by Lucas Duda. He clamly picked it up, fired to first, and ended the threat.

NOTES

-Tomorrow, the Phillies resume their series with the Mets at 7:05. Miguel Batista takes on Joe Blanton.

Yeah, .500 is looking like a stretch at the moment. I have never seen a team squander more scoring opportunities than this years phillies. It is sickening. At the same time, if they start turning some of these opportunities into runs, they will win some games.

rube better start contemplating a managerial move! before it’s too late. i know it’s early but as yogi once said it gets late earlier than you think. or something like that. cholly hasn’t used paps in 5 days! he lost two games that were close and could have possibly been won and noe he finally uses him and poof he goes caput ! i don’t blame paps i blame the manager! uses guys in situations they’re unproven in, schwimmer and lets him throw almost 60 damn pitches, same with sanchez he was almost close to 60 also. lets paps stay in the pen collecting dust for 5 days and expects him to be sharp! yea the guys gettin 50m to pitch! let him pitch for crying out loud! took KK out with only 87 pitches in 6 inn and tries to get 4 innings out of the bullpen in a tie game and using pitchers in matchups then oops i only have 2 guys left! and of course the next night someone else is “unavailable” cause he pitched 3 innings! whew he’s got to go!

I actually think his usage of Papelbon tonight was a step in the right direction. Unfortunately they lost, and therefore Charlie’s unlikely to do it again, but the idea is that if the game is on the line you want your best pitcher in there. If you’re at home there are some considerations of the batters that the pitchers are likely to face and leverage situations, but generally I’m ok with losing with the best pitcher on the mound.

I didn’t write the book, but it says you don’t use your closer in a tie game on the road. The book says you can use him in a tie game at home. That’s the way it’s always been, and that’s the way almost all managers play it.

It really doesn’t matter at this point, if you only score two runs you really don’t deserve to win. In 30 games so far the team has scored 2 or less in almost half of them (14). They are 2-12 when scoring 2 runs or less. Not surprising at all.

it’s apparent that galvis needs more seasoning as a hitter, so i’ve heard. well as low as his average is around .198 ? he has more RBI than cholly’s boy j-bag. did anybody notice that j-bag could have hit the dirt and slid into first to try to be safe, but noooo jimmy don’t do that! he’s so pathetic to watch anymore! his ab’s are sickening. i’ll lay money on chase coming back and even if he’s not the old chase he’s still gonna dirt bag grind it out kickin and screaming and clawing to be safe at first, and i think that given the same amount of ab’s that j-bag has he’ll have quadruple the amout of RBI that jimmy has! and howard also! say what you want about him and i complain too but it tells you something about the man when he grounds out making the last out in the playoffs and he knew when he hit it there was no way he’s gonna beat that throw, and he also knows his ankles in pain. but what does he do? he busts it to try! then he blow his achilles out and he still tried to run a few steps. all the complaining i did about that man for this and that. well after what he tried to do on that last ab he’s earned my respect from now on wheather he strikes out or whatever i just gonna stfu. we should all appreciate the RBI that he produces. we sure miss them now! we not only miss ryan and chase for what they did or what hopefully they can still do. most of all the phils miss their heart! jimmy has no heart! he got his contract he’s riding the wave! trade his sorry a$$

It’s been pretty much shown that sliding into first actually slows a runner down. Slides are to avoid tags or break up double plays. At first base, if the throw beats you, you’re just plain out, and it will always beat you if you try to slide under it. I suppose with a slide, he could have taken the first baseman’s legs out from under him, and the guy might have dropped the throw. Then Rollins would have been called out for interference and that maybe would have started a brawl and he’d be suspended.

Also, it’s a given that Utley will have more RBIs. He’ll have the lead off man (Rollins) or the second place hitter on base way more often then Rollins will have the number eight (Galvis) or number nine (a pitcher) on.

I think he was talking about Jimmy’s bunt in the 9th, during which Jimmy actually did a sort of slide/dive maneuver to try to avoid the tag. It was a good try by Jimmy and unfortunately a better play by the Mets.

I did worry a little when they signed J-Roll. I wanted him to be a Phillie but in the back of mind i wondered if he would slack off. Jeff Papelbon is declining because of one game? A case of him been a little rusty, that one batter who kept fouling off pitches and a little luck, i wouldnt say he is declining, thats a stretch.

Bases loaded and 1 out in the 7th – nothing
Man on first and third, one out in the 8th – nothing
In the bottom of the 9th, not even a whimper – the core of this lineup 1-2-3 without any struggle.
Papelbon gave up the hr to a kid who had never hit a major league hr, it was probably close to 400 feet if not longer. Pathetic. I thought Papelbon was the only legit relief the Phils had this season, what a joke.
Nobody will be getting walked intentionally on the Phils this year, there is no fear with this lineup.

I completely disagree on Halladay. Early in the year when he was not throwing with as much velocity, but he had better command of his pitches. He was 3-0 with a good ERA and WHIP.

Now that he’s ratcheted it up a bit he’s losing the bite and sink on his two seamer and grooving the four. Everyone thinks it’s all about velocity, it’s not. As you age you can still throw hard, hell at 55 I can still throw pretty hard. I don’t know where the balls going to end up when I do, but I can do it.

I’d rather not see him try to reach back so much. Stop reading Bow-Tie boy’s tweets, and just be a pitcher. A guy with his talent and conditioning can pitch well for a long long time, but his game has to evolve with age.

Why were the runs lucky? Wright’s hit was a solid double down the line. Also, the old Halladay doesn’t blow a 2 run lead in the 6th inning. Prior to that he had set the Mets down in order 4 times. Face it, he is on the decline. Only through rose colored glasses can you see it differently.

I believe Papelbon only blew 3 saves all of last year and only allowed 3 of 10 inherited runners to score.
This year, the only games he wasnt lights out were the games he came in in non-save situations.

We really lost our momentum when we didn’t capitalize in the bottom of the 8th with 1-out and guys on 2nd and 3rd. I don’t understand why Charlie didn’t pinch-hit for Galvis there. The Mets have Bobby Parnell, a righty, on the mound… and we have Nix (who’s hitting over .300) on the bench. You have to score there… USE HIM! Then you can put in Orr for the ninth. Or you could’ve just pinch-hit with Orr straight up cause he’s a lefty. Either move would’ve made much more sense than letting Galvis bat —ESPECIALLY when he was 0-3 at that point.

They brought out Nix to hit for Halladay in the 8th, just after Galvis, and the Mets brought in a lefty to face him, so Charlie pulled Nix back and sent Kratz to strike out. The Mets would have made the same move whether Nix hit for Galvis or Halladay.

If Nix had gone out to hit for Galvis, and we then used Kratz against the lefty, Halladay would have been due up with Orr or Schneider to face the lefty reliever.

That’s still fine and a better scenario. Our odds of scoring a run would’ve increased with Kratz against a lefty instead of Galvis against a righty. With Papelbon warming up, and 1 out in the bottom of the 8th… guys in scoring position, you gotta make these moves. If we burn Nix because the Mets decide to bring in a lefty, so be it. The crucial at-bat in this case is the one with 1 out.

Kratz faced the lefty, and struck out. Kratz has struck out in 2 of 3 AB’s this season, and hit .140 in his career during limited time in the majors. Kratz has a career strikeout rate of 27%, Galvis only 16%.

A better option was to have Galvis drop a bunt as was mentioned by the ESPN crew.